⛵️ Plain Sailing: Navigating the Smooth Seas of Language 🚢
Plain Sailing – Perfectly straightforward; an easy and unobstructed course.
The term comes from navigation, where it means sailing in waters that are free of hazards, particularly rocks or other obstructions. Used since the nineteenth century, it may have come from the earlier navigational term plane sailing, the art of determining a ship’s position without reference to the fact that the earth is round, and therefore sailing on a plane (flat surface), which works, but only for a short distance.
Plain sailing was transferred to other pursuits in the early nineteenth century. Shaw used it in his preface to Androcles and the Lion (1916): “Without the proper clues the gospels are . . . incredible. . . . But with the clues they are fairly plain sailing.”
A synonymous term is smooth sailing, used figuratively since the first half of the 1800s. Edward Bulwer Lytton had it in Night and Morning (1841): “‘Oh, then it’s all smooth sailing,’ replied the other.”
See also: hard/tough sledding.
Sail Through Similar Terms 🌬️
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Smooth Sailing: Exact synonym; indicates no significant troubles or hardships.
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Coasting: Another nautical term, meaning gliding on momentum without much effort.
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Easy Street: Living comfortably with minimal effort.
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On the Right Track: Following a correct or successful course.
Sailor’s Humor 🛟
- Synonym: “Life’s been all plain sailing since I got my GPS—a Great Personal Sailor!”
- Antonym: “First sign of hard sledding, and it feels like my life’s a soap opera on a sinking ship!”
Thought-Provoking Farewell 🌠
As you continue your voyage through life’s vast oceans, may each journey bring you smooth seas and insightful discoveries. Remember, even when the waters get rough, it’s the bumps that often make the best tales.
